★~♥~♥~★~ El Morno! ♥~★~★~♥ ~
August 27, 2012

It’s  MONDAY!

★~ Meet Hope: When you’re the neighborhood “dog lady,” it’s not uncommon to open your door to a person holding a leash with a wet, cold, skinny pup on the other end of it.  A story usually follows, and more often than not, the pup ends up going inside with me. Hope was one of those pups that showed up one cold winter night. I brought the wet mess on the other end of the leash inside, where she quickly showed her terrier breeding by shaking herself off and making herself at home. I named her Hope and had high hopes we’d quickly find her a forever home.

My bestest friend, Annilise, agreed to keep Hope while she recovered from being spade, fell in love with her, and begged me to let her give Hope a forever home. Maybe. The details are less important than the happy-ever-after ending. This spunky, smart, counter-surfing terrier found her way into a the hearts of a wonderful family and a fabulous forever home, proving once again that Hope springs eternal.

★~  Today’s Quote: Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. Dr. Seuss

★~  Just Because Day:

Just Because Day is a day to do things just because you want to — no rhyme, no reason needed. Celebrate today by doing anything you want . . . just because.

★~ “The Duchess” Who Wasn’t Day:

At least once today, slip the famous quotation “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” into your conversation. This day celebrates the life of Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, a novelist who often wrote under the pseudonym “The Duchess,” which was the title of her most popular novel. Margaret is responsible for the popular phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” which appeared in her book Molly Bawn

★~  Banana Lover’s Day:

I have dazzled you with my banana brilliance on many occasions. Sharing riveting banana facts and demonstrating the correct way to peel a banana; and most recently, Cole and his cousin Ryan dazzled you with their ability to peel a banana with their toes. I have always been rather biased when it comes to bananas, presenting them only in a positive manner. I feel justified being one-sided because the vast majority of us are banana lovers (the average American eats 26 pounds of bananas every year — that’s about 150 bananas!), but in the interest of being objective and fair, I searched Google to find a banana story to share that would confirm (for some people) that bananas are, in fact, evil …

Ivanka Perko survived Nazi and Communist regimes, escaping Slovenia with just the clothes on her back and some black pepper in her pocket to ward off guard dogs. But in the end, a banana brought the 73-year-old grandma to her demise. She was attempting to open a banana and dropped it; the pointy end scraped down her leg and scratched it. To most of us, this would just be a silly little scrape, but Perko had been ill for several months and she wasn’t healing properly from even the smallest of injuries. She ended up dying of infection and complications from the banana injuries. She maintained a sense of humor about it, though, and said on her deathbed, “I can’t believe after all this time it was a bloody banana that killed me.” Her humor lives on in her family, who noted that it was sort of a fitting end for such a unique and fruitful life.

★~  Pots de Creme Day:

Before I share with you how to make this magnifique dessert, let’s learn how to say it the correct way:  We do NOT pronounce Pots de Crème “Pawts deh Crème” but instead pronounce it “Po de Krehm,” or, if you want to show off and can do a fair imitation of a French accent, “Po de kehm.” Ok, now that we have the pronunciation down, I will share a recipe for this fancy-schmancy dessert that is so easy to make even I can make it!

Ingredients: 

1. 12 ounces, weight Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
2. 4 whole Eggs, Room Temperature
3. 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract (or Cognac, Grand Marnier, Etc.)
4. 1 pinch Salt
5. 8 ounces, fluid Strong Hot Coffee

Preparation Instructions:

First thing to do is to take your eggs out of the refrigerator ahead of time and let them come to room temperature before starting.

When eggs are at room temperature you can begin by placing the chocolate chips into a blender. Follow this with the eggs and the vanilla (or liqueur). Add a pinch of salt. Turn on the blender.

While it is blending, remove the circular disk from the blender lid and very slowly pour in 8 ounces of strong, VERY HOT coffee. It is essential that your coffee be extremely hot in order for the final product to be the right consistency and texture.

Blend for a minute or so until mixture is smooth and fairly free of visible bits of chocolate.

Pour the mixture into your serving glasses or little demitasse cups, leaving plenty of room to add a heap of whipped cream later.

Place in the refrigerator for at least 3 to 4 hours so the mixture has a chance to set.

Garnish with whipped cream and maybe a chocolate curl or two and Celebrate Pots de crème Day! Bon Appetite!

★~ Today in History:

♥~ 1859: Petroleum was discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania. It’s been called “the most important oil well ever drilled” because it marked the beginning of the modern petroleum age.

♥~ 1912 – Tarzan was born, or rather, came to life on this day. Tarzan of the Apes was published by writer Edgar Rice Burroughs.

♥~ 1938 – At a poetry reading by Archibald MacLeish, another poet, in a fit of jealousy, set fire to some papers in order to disrupt the recital. That jealous poet, incidentally, was Robert Frost.

♥~ 1955 – The Guinness Book of World Records was first published. Six months later, it was a best-seller. It has sold more than 70,000,000 copies, more than any other book but the Bible.

♥~ 1997 –  Animal humane officer Bob Warren of Kenosha, Wisconsin, rescued his seventh skunk of the summer with its head stuck in a Yoplait yogurt container. Warren said it’s not that difficult as long as you keep the skunk’s tail down.

★~Born Today:

♥~ 551 B.C. – Confucius (K’ung Fu-tzu) philosopher; died in 479 B.C.

♥~ 1910 – Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) Nobel Peace Prize-winner [1979]: missionary, humanitarian; died Sep 5, 1997

♥~ 1949 – Jeff Cook singer, musician: guitar: group: Alabama: Love in the First Degree, Feels So Right

♥~ 1952 – Paul Reubens aka Pee-wee Herman comedian, actor: Pee Wee’s Playhouse, Batman Returns, Pee Wee’s Big Top; TV host: You Don’t Know Jack

★~ Did You Know: 

♥~ The Tattooed Banana site is “dedicated to the emerging appreciation for banana art,” the site is chock-full of potassium, vitamin C, and hilarious art involving the banana.

♥~ Washington Banana Museum :  This museum is a great place to monkey around and learn fun banana facts, such as, bananas were introduced to the American public at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, the same expo that introduced the telephone.

♥~ The Pratfall: Since the beginning of the 20th century, slipping on a banana peel has been a fixture in physical comedy. The slipping-and-falling gag is widely accepted to have originated on the Vaudeville stage. The AV Club points to Vaudeville comedian “Sliding” Billy Watson  as the self-proclaimed inventor of the banana-peel pratfall. Supposedly, Watson witnessed a man struggling to maintain his balance after slipping on a peel. This inspired the “sliding act” which brought him great fame in the 1900’s.

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Facebook Friend Stan added a new word to my vocabulary that I thought I would share…..

EXHAUSTIPATED”

Which means…Your just too tired to give a shit.

Can you use it in a sentence?

Have a marvelous Monday! Just because. . .

♥